Psst…. RRSP Contribution Deadline is NOW & Other Tax Time Tips and Updates!

In today’s vlog Kelly Melanson, CPA reminds us that time is running out to take advantage of RRSP contributions for this tax year. Kelly also shares some interesting updates and information like:

New CRA audit focuses that are VERY unusual, like matching your postal code with your house and comparing it to your declared income and seeking 3rd party data to track PayPal revenues

Incorporation or Sole Proprietor? Which one suits you best?

Salary or Dividend – do you understand how each scenario would impact your tax planning?

So watch this vlog and hear it straight from Kelly.

Kelly Melanson, CPA, CMA is the founder and owner of Kelly Melanson Professional Corporation. She and her team specialize in helping companies grow via strategic financial management practices. For almost 25 years, Kelly Melanson, Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA) has been helping businesses in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to reach and surpass their profit goals.

If you would like to speak to us regarding Business Accounting, financial retirement or tax planning, tax returns, bookkeeping or any of your other please contact us anytime – we’d love to chat with you.

In today’s vlog Kelly Melanson, CPA from www.kmpc.ca and Kourtney Thompson from www.newinitiativeshr.com discuss the impacts of Bill 148 and the recent updates regarding the issue of income sprinkling and other recently changed corporate taxation rules by CRA (Canada Revenue Agency). Here are some helpful links to provide information about the topics discussed today:

This legislation makes many changes to both the Employment Standards Act, 2000, the Labour Relations Act, 1995, and the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including raising the minimum wage and providing employees with:

equal pay for equal work for casual, part-time, temporary and seasonal workers

one week’s notice or pay in lieu of notice for employees of temporary help agencies if longer-term assignments end early

fairer scheduling rules

a minimum of three weeks’ vacation after five years with the same employer

up to 10 individual days of leave and up to 15 weeks of leave, without the fear of losing their job when a worker or their child has experienced or is threatened with domestic or sexual violence

Thank you for stopping by!

Kelly

Kelly Melanson, CPA, CMA is the founder and owner of Kelly Melanson Professional Corporation. She and her team specialize in helping companies grow via strategic financial management practices. For almost 25 years, Kelly Melanson, Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA, CMA) has been helping businesses in Whitby, Oshawa, Ajax, Durham Region and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to reach and surpass their profit goals.

If you would like to speak to us regarding Business Accounting, financial retirement or tax planning, tax returns, bookkeeping or any of your other please contact us anytime – we’d love to chat with you.

Proposed New Income Sprinkling Rules Go Too Far

Heads up people, the federal government has proposed some chilling private corporation tax changes that will have a profoundly negative impact if they should pass. They are looking to change some common tax planning practices used by private corporations. Many of these changes have raised the alarm because they are not good news for Canadian entrepreneurs!

How New Rules Impact Canada’s Entrepreneurs?

The government is looking to change the rules for income sprinkling. The practice of income sprinkling typically involves issuing shares and paying dividends to family members with lower or no income to reduce the family’s overall tax burden. Tax on split income currently applies, also known as “kiddie tax”. If an individual under the age of 18 receives a dividend or other specific income, it’s automatically subject to top marginal tax rates.

The proposed changes mean that the Kiddie Rule could now apply to everyone who receives split income from a family business, aside from employment income.

This new scope will apply to adults who receive split income deemed “unreasonable.” A reasonableness test will apply, based on contributions of labour and capital, and on previous returns and remuneration. As a rule of thumb, it is judged that an amount is “unreasonable” if it exceeds what an arm’s-length party would agree to pay to a person for the contribution. In order to be deemed legitimate labour contributions, those aged 18 to 24 must be “actively engaged on a regular, continuous and substantial basis in the activities of the business”. This is an even more rigid test than for those who are older.

And if this wasn’t enough to shock you, the government is also proposing if business owners earn income through their corporation on which they pay tax at the corporate rate, the additional capital they have left to invest, if it’s not invested back into the business or paid out to them personally, would be viewed as them investing for their own benefit and not that of their corporation. So people that means that the present refundable tax system, in respect to those invested retained earnings, would no longer exist as an option.

Under the current refundable tax system, the option exists to pay a lesser corporate tax rate and have more to invest in the business or capital purchases such as a commercial property. This practice has allowed business owners to use passive corporate investment portfolios as a very-much-needed nest egg that can act as the entrepreneurial benefits and pension fund. As business owners are not guaranteed income, and often forego salaries during lean times, this practice can provide a critical financial reserve for business owners to keep operations going during lean times.

The absurd hypocrisy of these proposed changes is staggering. The government is forever touting that Canada is the land where entrepreneurs are encouraged and celebrated. They applaud the moxie of our entrepreneurs because they are courageous enough to strike out on their own and take on the risks of launching and growing a business, without the usual safety nets that come with most regular employment – health benefits, paid vacations, training, pensions… the list goes on! And in their bravery, these entrepreneurs drive the economy by creating jobs, purchasing services and supplies from other businesses and paying their taxes to support the social and economic infrastructure of our country. And yet the government, in a move one can only describe as draconian, creates these misguided changes which completely undermine Canada’s small business community by exponentially increasing their financial vulnerability and threatening their future! And it is highly doubtful that there will be a line up of eager wannabe entrepreneurs willing to take the place of those businesses that don’t make it in this harsh new reality if this proposal is adopted.

What Proposed ‘Income Sprinkling’ Rules Could Mean to You

The changes contained in the government’s proposal will effectively handcuff entrepreneurs and make it incredibly difficult for many of them to keep their businesses viable. If the government implements these ruthless measures they should do only do so once they have publicly acknowledged that this proposal has the power kill off a good portion of our economy as businesses across this country are forced to lay off their employees and ultimately close their doors forever.

If you would like to share your input on this topic, I urge you to make your voice heard by using the email feedback channel provided by the government. They will be accepting comments until October 2, 2017, at fin.consultation.fin@canada.ca.

It also might be an idea to give your Member of Parliament and Member of Provincial Parliament a call to share your concerns as a business owner.

If you would like to speak to Kelly regarding your retirement or tax planning, tax returns, bookkeeping or any of your other accounting or financial planning needs, please contact the office anytime – we’d love to chat with you.

Learn How to Set up Your CRA My Account – It’s Quick and Easy!

Kelly Melanson, CPA show you in this step-by-step video how to set up your own My Account with Canada Revenue Agency.

You can better manage your finances if you have up-to-date information. That is why I am encouraging all my clients to make sure they sign up for their “My Account” with CRA. It is fast and easy. You can watch the video on my site where I show you, step-by-step, how to to set up your My Account with CRA You will be happy you did, because once you sign up you can:

Knowledge is Power – Get it with your CRA My Account:

• Find out your RRSP limit, home buyer’s plan balance and Tax Free Savings balance
• Print off your notice of assessments going back to 2005
• See if any carryover amounts like tuition
• See if you owe any money, if you made installments how much, etc.
• Request information through sending CRA a message
• Check your child tax benefit payments and when they were paid
• Check your HST credits, disability credits working income tax benefits, Ontario trillium benefits, so if it says they mailed you a cheque and you didn’t get it, you can call and ask where they sent it to… maybe you didn’t change your address?
• Submit required documentation to CRA when there is a request for information from you. Simply scan it and submit it electronically via your account!
• Save yourself money because you can do all these things yourself and save yourself service fees
• MOST importantly – protect yourself and your money! There have been a lot of scams recently so if you receive a request that seems a little strange you can log into your account and review any letters sent to you from CRA through the view mail function to ensure that it is a legitimate request from CRA.

If you would like to speak to us regarding your tax planning, tax returns or any of your other accounting or financial planning needs, please contact us anytime – we’d love to chat with you.

Learn how to set up your My Account with CRA

You can better manage your finances if you have up-to-date information. That is why I am encouraging all my clients to make sure they sign up for their “My Account” with CRA. It is fast and easy. You can watch the video on my site where I show you, step-by-step, how to to set up your My Account with CRA You will be happy you did, because once you sign up you can:

Knowledge is Power – Get it with your CRA My Account:

• Find out your RRSP limit, home buyer’s plan balance and Tax Free Savings balance
• Print off your notice of assessments going back to 2005
• See if any carryover amounts like tuition
• See if you owe any money, if you made installments how much, etc.
• Request information through sending CRA a message
• Check your child tax benefit payments and when they were paid
• Check your HST credits, disability credits working income tax benefits, Ontario trillium benefits, so if it says they mailed you a cheque and you didn’t get it, you can call and ask where they sent it to… maybe you didn’t change your address?
• Submit required documentation to CRA when there is a request for information from you. Simply scan it and submit it electronically via your account!
• Save yourself money because you can do all these things yourself and save yourself service fees
• MOST importantly – protect yourself and your money! There have been a lot of scams recently so if you receive a request that seems a little strange you can log into your account and review any letters sent to you from CRA through the view mail function to ensure that it is a legitimate request from CRA.

Extended Hours for Tax Season!

To make it more convenient to drop off your tax return files to our offices, we are offering extended hours:

March 2017

Tuesdays and Thursdays until 7pm

Saturday March 11th and 25th from 10am to 2pm

April 2017

Mondays to Thursdays until 7pm

Saturdays from 10am to 2pm

And, as always, you are free to drop your files through door slot anytime after hours. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the office.

Happy Tax Season!

Kelly

If you would like to speak to us regarding your tax planning, tax returns or any of your other accounting or financial planning needs, please contact us anytime – we’d love to chat with you.